Wild Times! Coming Home!

First, apologies to those of you anxiously awaiting an update.  It has been like an Olympic ping-pong match since Wednesday evening.  Again, I must try to keep Steve's dignity intact....although the devil in me is tempted to provide graphic details.  Summary:  Poop, puke, stoned.  Repeat.  A lot.  The poor guy has lost 60 pounds over time, most since 4/30.  It is amazing that the human body can take so much abuse and keep going, so to speak.

He hasn't been sleeping well, and the staff has been frantically trying to get the vomiting (bile!! mucous!!! ICK!) under control and the south end plugged.   The Zofran wasn't touching the nausea, then Compazine, then Haldol.....I'm not sure what the final solution was, but I was told it was extremely expensive and not used often.  There was concern late in the week that he may have "c-diff," so the staff started gowning and labs were done.  Luckily, it was negative, so they were able to get Immodium down his gullet and that worked like a charm.

His labs were unremarkable.  The WBCs were steady at 0.5......the absolute neutrophils were still TLTC by the lab, but seen under the scope.  We were told that engraftment was being hampered by the low amount of cells infused the first time, which was around 4.5 million, instead of the optimum 8 infused, with 2 "in the bank."  No one was sure if The Spleen was acting up either.   The risk of waiting so long for full recovery of his labs was, of course, infection.  Now that Steve was faring poorly with being so sick, it got the gears going with the doctors.

Thursday the Stem Cell Team made a decision to reinfuse him with more of Mary's cells.  Phone calls started with Blue Cross and Northwestern, just in case approval was needed.  Mary was summoned to come down to the hospital on Friday for a blood draw to make sure she didn't have any illnesses.  She did not have to have the full work-up this time, which was good.  She was given the Neupogen kit plus a "booster" for the night before the harvest, and was told her discomfort may be worse this time.  Percocet was prescribed.  Shots are to begin tonight, Sunday.  

Megan stayed overnight Friday night.  He was sick as a dog well into Saturday morning, when Dr. Altman phoned me at home with good, yet tentative, news.  Steve's WBCs had gone from 0.5 to 0.7 and the ANCs (absolute neutrophils) had popped onto the lab radar at 0.5.  She cautioned me that until she had TWO days of those numbers she didn't want to get our hope up.

I asked Dr. Altman, "what if his labs come up during the week?  Will you still infuse him?"  That was a grey area.  She said they may infuse him with *some* of the harvest, and bank the rest.  The stem cells can be frozen for up to 10 years.  That was yesterday morning.  I visited from 1-6 p.m., and Mary took over later last evening and slept overnight.  The nausea was still present, although much better, when I left at 6.  South end was good.  Still hadn't eaten anything.  Other than a bit of watermelon or sherbet here a time or two, Steve hasn't had solid food in about 2 weeks.  He has also (quickly!!) developed "chemo brain" and can't complete a sentence to save his soul.  It is difficult to converse, and we hope this passes as quickly as it came on Saturday.  At one this morning, Mary said he was wide awake and wanted to drink water, which he gulped, and in large amounts.  Uh-oh.  So she offered a few little animal crackers and he kept those down.

Now for the big news.  His labs shot WAAAAAY up.  The Stem Cell team came in and told him he can GO HOME TOMORROW!  They are keeping him today to make sure he *can* eat and keep food down.  WBC's went from 0.7 yesterday to 1.1 today!!  ANCs went from 0.5 to 0.9. Mary's harvest is being cancelled, luckily this happened before her first injection!  Dr. Mehta (Director of Stem Cell Transplantation) and Dr. Altman were both paged for discharge approval, and it's a GO.  Walgreens in Oak Lawn has been called (and I got a text while typing this) that his meds are on order and will be filled tomorrow.

We are going to bring some of his stuff home today, and will keep everyone posted as news develops, which is minute-to-minute!!!!!!!!

We are all in a state of shock!!